NEW YORK — Derek Jeter helped Major League Baseball commemorate the 70th anniversary of Lou Gehrig’s luckiest man speech Saturday, reading the famous line from the icon’s stirring words during a video tribute before the New York Yankees’ game against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Yankees also placed a wreath of red, white and blue flowers by Gehrig’s monument in Monument Park and made a $25,000 donation to Major League Baseball’s 4 (diamond) ALS initiative, an effort to raise awareness of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis — the disease that forced Gehrig out of baseball in 1939 and took his life two years later.
All major league players, coaches and on-field personnel wore patches Saturday to honor Gehrig’s legacy and a 4 (diamond) ALS logo was displayed on first base in each ballpark as part of the awareness initiative.
He hit a record 23 grand slams, had 13 straight consecutive seasons of at least 100 RBIs and 100 runs and helped New York win six World Series titles.
Nick Nicholson, a retired Navy commander who turns 66 on Monday and was diagnosed with ALS last August, brought his wife Joanna and two of his three children to the ballpark. His daughter scurried around the field getting autographs befor.
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